"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

People have been suggesting that we do another Smittypalooza or similar get-together for a while now, but nobody has suggested a venue. Given a year to work with and a staff of at least a dozen, I could probably rent a hotel and accommodate about a thousand folks – oh, wait, I’m thinking about anime conventions. Never mind. I’m going to go ahead and set a date – September 12 – and see if I can find someplace in Fairfax County where we can have some quiet drinks, conversation, and bar food that won’t remind people of CPAC’s legendary #UnsustainableBarTab. I am of course open to suggestions; a small neighborhood venue is preferred over some noisy sports bar like Buffalo Wild Wings, and a hotel bar/lounge is absolutely the last resort unless someone knows one that doesn’t charge far, far out the ass for potables and nibblements.

Post suggestions in the comments. I hope to have settled on a location with Stacy and Smitty no later than Labor Day.

Well I am in wherever you decide, I don’t have anywhere in particular I like or don’t like there is an Old Brogue in Great Falls, there is a Breakers in Herndon/Centreville or Jimmys Old Town Tavern in Herndon as well, all of them have good food and Breakers has pool.

I was hoping for something more suburban, but four blocks from the King Street Metro’s not bad.

Wombat_socho

What part of “Fairfax County” was unclear to you, Bubba?

Wombat_socho

Jimmy’s looks good. Free parking, and survivors can decamp to the Amphora after Jimmy’s closes.

Anon Imus

Ireland’s Four Provinces in Falls Church?

http://www.unifiedpatriots.com/ JadedByPolitics

I saw a Black Sabbath cover band from NY there on a Friday night and I have met some people politically for lunch there, it is an all round good joint

Mm

Herndon is better an Alexandria.

Quartermaster

There will also be the need for one to send you off to Siberia…er, I mean Sin City.

Quartermaster

For some reason, I don’t think it was unclear to him.

scarymatt

Yeah, Jimmy’s is excellent. Hell, I could walk to this…

Mark Reardon

Damn Smitty, I won’t be in Fairfax until the 20th. Hoist 1 for me.

Gunga

Was once setting up an archaeology conference in Duluth. Told the venue to make sure they needed to provide more beer than they deemed humanly possible for a group our size to consume. Was rebuffed with the kind of contempt normally shown to vegans or people who wear button-down collars with short pants. The penultimate night found our hosts without sufficient quantities of malted beverages. “That’s alright, we’ve had enough” said exactly no-one. More than 20 years later, people who generally aren’t smart enough to pour internally produced liquids from their own boots still remind me that I’m “that guy who…”
I bring this up only as a cautionary tale. Don’t be “that guy who” trusted “the professional’s” opinion. To paraphrase Ron Swanson, whatever establishment you choose you should tell them that you want all the beer that there is. They will think you mean you want a lot of beer. You must impress upon them that you want what you asked for: “All-the-beer-that-exists.” …or are we leaving the wives at home?

Christopher_Renner

If you’re all up for a potluck, my building in Tysons/Falls Church has a nice club room that I can reserve. Fits 20-30 comfortably, and we can shuttle from the Silver/Orange lines.

We would have to shuttle because this chick doesn’t do Tysons, that place is a freaking nightmare….just saying

I of course want to be gracious and thank you for the suggestion, its sounds cozy and comfortable!

http://articlefiveprocess.com/ K-Bob

The whole thing is entirely on the wrong side of the Blue Ridge mountains. Move West, my man.

Wombat_socho

It’s one branch of costuming, with the additional effort of trying to act in character. For example, Klingons aren’t usually in costume, they’re cosplaying, especially the ones that can actually speak the language.